NEW YORK (JTA) — Modern Orthodox synagogues, yeshivas and institutions in New York City will gather to celebrate the Siyum HaShas.
The evening of Torah study and communal celebration is scheduled for Aug. 6 at Congregation Shearith Israel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Shearith Israel, with Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and Lincoln Square Synagogue, among others, is co-sponsoring the event, which is said to be the first time that the city’s Modern Orthodox community has united to celebrate the siyum.
The siyum marking the culmination of the 7 1/2-year cycle of page-a-day study known as Daf Yomi will come five days after the largest gathering for the Siyum HaShas, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
The event at Shearith Israel will feature addresses by rabbis and scholars on topics relating to Daf Yomi. Scheduled speakers include Rabbi Adam Mintz, Chaim Saiman, Rabbi Dov Linzer and Elana Stein Hain.
Linzer told JTA that the event is an opportunity for many institutions from the Modern Orthodox community to come together.
“I really felt that there are too many things that divide us … and I felt that we could all unite around the importance of Torah and Torah learning,” Linzer said. “We wanted to have a way for the Modern Orthodox community to come together and celebrate as a community its accomplishments and passions.”
The celebration also will feature participation by and words of reflection from people who have completed their studies.
Yedidah Koren, a 27-year-old Jerusalem woman and teacher of Talmud and halachah, or Jewish law, at Yeshivat Hadar and the Drisha Institute, will be among the celebrants. Koren said in a statement that learning the Daf Yomi “makes me feel like I’m part of something greater, a joint project that all the Jewish people are participating in.”
The Daf Yomi program was devised by Rabbi Yehudah Meir Shapiro in 1923 at the First International Congress of Agudath Israel in Vienna to enhance the sense of unity among Jews worldwide through the study of Torah.
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